Create a document with Normal template

What is Normal template?

The most commonly used template is called Normal. If you create a document in Word without selecting a template, Word will select and use Normal template on your behalf.

Normal defines document elements such as the size and layout of a page, headers and footers, margin settings and many other types of formatting applied to an entire document. Normal template also contains some Styles that help you format your text.

Create a document with Normal template

To look at Normal template, create a new file.

1. Open Word 2007.
   
2. Click the Office button in the top left hand corner.
   
3. Click New. The New Document dialog box below displays.
   

In the left hand panel, you will see a list of Templates. There are templates designed to help you do just about everything, but we will select Blank for now. When you select Blank you are selecting Normal template.

1. Click Blank and recent if it is not already highlighted.
   
2. Click Blank document in the centre panel.
   
3. Click Create. A new blank document displays on your screen.
   

About Styles

Templates contain many commands that define how your document will look. One of the components of this is Styles. A style is a set of formatting instructions that can be applied to a piece of text with a single action. The set is given a meaningful name so you can remember what it is. When you select some text and apply a style, that text is automatically formatted with ALL the attributes carried by the style. There are a number of advantages with using styles:

• They speed up the formatting process.
  
• They help you achieve consistency throughout your document.
  
• They are used by advanced features in Word such as creating tables of content, and creating cross references.
  

Look at the Styles in Normal template

1. With the Home tab selected, look at the "ribbon" across the top of your screen. You will see a group labelled Styles, with a highlight around Normal. That is Normal style in Normal template.
   

Turn the Show all button on

1. Before you start, find the Show all button on your Home tab, Paragraph group.
   
2. Click so it is highlighted. From now on, work with this button highlighted at all times. With the Show All button selected, you will see a hard return symbol at the end of each paragraph (¶). These will not print.
   

Apply styles from the Styles Gallery

1. In your new document type your name. Your text has been automatically formatted with Normal style, but how do you know this and what does it mean?
   
2. You can find what style is applied to your text by looking at the Home tab, Styles group. The command box that says Normal has a yellow highlight around it. That tells you that you have formatted your name with Normal style.
   
3. You can also see what font is applied by looking at the Home tab, Font group. You will see the font name Calibri with an 11 next to it, which is the size.
   
4. With your cursor at the end of Your Name, press Enter. You are taken to a new line.
   
5. Type Heading 1.
   
6. Press Enter.
   
7. Place the cursor back anywhere in the word Heading.
   
8. From the Home tab, Styles group, click Heading 1. Your text will now have changed to font Cambria, size 14, blue and bolded, with quite a lot of space before it.
   
9. Look at the Home tab, Font group to see the font name Cambria with a 14 next to it, which is the size. You will also see the B for bold highlighted, which tells you the text is bolded so that it stands out more.
   
10. Now place your cursor under Heading 1, if it is not already there.
    
11. Type Heading 2.
    
12. Press Enter.
    
13. Place the cursor back anywhere in Heading 2.
    
14. From the Home tab, Styles group, click Heading 2. Your text will now have changed to be font Cambria, size 13, a paler blue and bolded, with a bit less space before it than Heading 1.
    
15. You can see this by looking at the Home tab, Font group. You will see the font name Cambria with a 13 next to it. You will also see the B highlighted, which tells you the text is bolded.
    

Quick Styles set

Look at the styles shown in the Styles group. These are called Quick Styles. They are the ones Microsoft thinks you are likely to use the most.

1. Back in your document, type some more text.
   
2. Apply another style from the Quick Styles gallery.
   
3. Press Enter to move to the next line.
   
4. Do this with each of the styles you find on the Quick Styles gallery. Make sure you have a line of text formatted with each style.
   

Look at styles in the Styles Task Pane

So far, you have typed some text, applied some different styles and seen what font and size is associated with those styles, but you will have seen that there are more differences between the styles than just font and size. There were different colours; black, dark blue and a lighter blue and also different spacings before and after the text. We will look at these next.

Styles can be displayed in the Styles Task Pane with or without their formatting. When you are first getting used to a template, you may want to see what the styles look like. Once you know your template, it is easier to view the list with the formatting turned off.

1. On your Home tab, Styles group, in the bottom right corner click the little arrow: the Styles.
   
2. The Styles Task Pane displays on the right of your screen. Unlike the Quick Styles set in the Home tab, Styles group, the Styles Task Pane displays all the styles available on your template. From now on, work with Styles Task Pane open.
   
3. Place your cursor somewhere in Your Name.
   
4. Scroll up and down the Styles Task Pane until you find Normal, which will have a blue outline around it.
   
5. Run your mouse over Normal in the Styles Task Pane. Leave your cursor there for a moment and an information box will display all the formatting for Normal. Every time you apply Normal to some text, you will get everything on that list.
   
6. Place your cursor in Heading 1 in your document.
   
7. Run your cursor over Heading 1 in the Styles Task
   Pane. Leave your cursor there for a moment and an information box will display all the formatting for Heading 1. Every time you apply Heading 1 to some text, you will get everything on that list.
   
8. Now repeat this exercise with each other line of text that you have formatted with different styles.
   

Select "Show Preview" in the Styles Task Pane

1. In the Styles Task Pane tick the Show Preview checkbox. Tick and untick it to see what happens. Pick the view you prefer.
   
2. With the Show Preview check box ticked, you will have a list of styles in your Styles Task Pane (they display once you have applied all the styles to a piece of text). Note that styles apply to paragraphs. You end a paragraph when you press the Enter key. Word inserts a paragraph mark (¶) to show you that the paragraph is ended. When you start a new paragraph, you can apply a different style.
   
3. Experiment with applying styles to paragraphs of text until you are comfortable with the process and have a feel for what you are doing with them.
   

When you are finished, you can close this document without saving it by clicking the X in the top right corner of your screen.